832.61333/819: Airgram
The Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 19—noon.]
A–1174. The Minister of Finance87 told me on June 9, that he had received a telegram from Dr. Eurico Penteado, representative of the National Coffee Department in the United States and Financial Attaché to the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, reporting that the Quartermaster of the Army was annoyed with the policy of the DNC in Brazil and indicating that the Quartermaster would not reenter the Brazilian coffee market until the DNC adopts a more cooperative attitude. The telegram referred to the recent decision of the Quartermaster suspending purchases of approximately 200,000 bags, owing to the action of the DNC in increasing prices by 15 points after it became known that the Quartermaster had offered to buy coffee. Dr. Penteado informed the Minister that a few days later the Quartermaster purchased about 100,000 bags of coffee in Guatemala, which would have been purchased in the Brazilian market had the DNC cooperated.
The Minister is very much concerned about this development and suggested that it might be advisable to establish fixed prices for coffee for the Quartermaster to be sold through the DNC and not the trade. The Embassy made no comment on this suggestion.
Dr. Penteado also referred in the telegram to complaints he had received from the coffee trade in general in the United States against the arbitrary action of the DNC in increasing prices, prohibiting registrations, etc.…
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- Artur de Souza Costa.↩